After fielding user backlash over its new Terms of Use last week, Firefox browser maker Mozilla has rewritten its policy to address issues around the overly broad language it had previously used. Critics said the terms implied Mozilla was asking users for the rights to whatever data they input into the browser or upload, which some worried would be then sold to advertisers or AI companies.
Mozilla said that was not the case, noting that the new terms didn’t represent a change in the way the company used data. The company also said that the original language updates were not “driven by a desire” to sell user data, and that the company’s ability to use collected data was still limited by the rights laid out in Firefox’s Privacy Notice.
A number of critics had pointed to language, such as the following, in the new terms as a cause for concern (emphasis ours):
“When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox.”
Now, Mozilla has rewritten its Terms of Use to “more clearly reflect the limited scope of how Mozilla interacts with user data,” Mozilla’s product chief Ajit Varma said in an announcement shared ahead of the weekend.
In the updated policy, Mozilla clarifies that it’s asking for user data in order to operate Firefox and that this does not give the company ownership of that data.
Specifically, the new terms state that:
“You give Mozilla the rights necessary to operate Firefox. This includes processing your data as we describe in the Firefox Privacy Notice. It also includes a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license for the purpose of doing as you request with the content you input in Firefox. This does not give Mozilla any ownership in that content.”
Mozilla says it also removed the reference to the Acceptable Use Policy from its terms, as it was causing confusion.
The company’s online Privacy FAQ was updated to better explain legalese, as well.
For instance, Mozilla said it may have removed blanket claims that it never sells user data because the legal definition of “sale of data” is now “broad and evolving,” Mozilla’s blog post stated.
The company pointed to California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as an example of why the language was changed, noting that the CCPA defines “sale” as the “selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, a consumer’s personal information by [a] business to another business or a third party” in exchange for “monetary” or “other valuable consideration.”
Firefox does collect and share some data with its partners, Mozilla said, including data that helps to power its optional ads on the New Tab page in the browser and for sponsored suggestions in the search bar, which are detailed in its Privacy Notice. However, the company says that the user data it does share is stripped of personally identifying information and is only shared in aggregate.
Users can continue to adjust their own data sharing settings in the browser, Mozilla also said.
